Tuesday 31 July 1917 We Lost 6,527

by greatwarliveslost

Ellis Humphrey ‘Hedd Wyn’ Evans

The official name of the battle is the 3rd Ypres, but it is universally known as the Battle of Passchendaele because it is really a series of engagements with the one objective of taking Passchendaele Village and its Ridge. It commences with an attack on the Northern Flats at Pilckem to the left and the Gheluvelt Ridge to the right. The troops at Pilckem are supported by massed tanks and this attack is initially successful but the right flank is held up and fails to reach its objective of the Gheluvelt Ridge. Then at 16:00 the rain starts and will last for days and the flooding will make it impossible for the tanks to operate.

Although Haig has originally only proposed a short battle to break through the German Lines and this is now impossible, he insists on continuing the battle at Langemarck to the North. General Gough, whom Haig has chosen because he was the most aggressive of his Generals, actually advises Haig to cease the battle but Haig continues the battle despite horrific losses for another three weeks until 26th August before he closes it down.

He then decides to change the axis of attack from the North to the East and, when finer weather comes, to order the assault on the ridge itself. He also changes Generals and General Plumer is put in charge of the next assault. Plumer, one of the most astute of the Generals, is an advocate of a small scale limited advance under cover of a creeping barrage which will also prevent German counterattacks. This will lead to a concentration of force on a narrow front, it will be easier to relieve the tired men and food and ammunition can readily be brought up to them. The men are to advance behind the shelter of the exploding shells and be hidden from the enemy by the smoke and dust of the barrage, however this will be impossible if it rains and the ground turns into mud.

The 1st and 2nd Coldstream Guards, forming part of the Guards Division, attack to the east of the Yser Canal. The attack is very successful as the line advances, 3,000 yards to Pilckem. Private Thomas Whitham will be awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions at Pilkem during the attack when an enemy machine-gun is seen to be enfilading the battalion on the right. Private Whitham on his own initiative immediately works his way from shell-hole to shell-hole through our own barrage, reaches the machine-gun and, although under very heavy fire captures it, together with an officer and two other ranks. When leading waves are temporarily held up by fire from a blockhouse Second Lieutenant Reginald Rees Jones (Welsh Guards) pushes up to the obstacle and fires his rifle through the slits disregarding the danger which confronts him. He then enters the blockhouse and deals with the occupants and enables the advance to be continued. He is later badly wounded in the head from which he will die on 25th August. For his actions this day he will be awarded the DSO.

The 10th Welsh Regiment advances at 03:50 and gets lost in the darkness. They are able to secure two German trenches but the rain makes the going extremely difficult.

At Wieltje, Belgium the leading waves of an attack become disorganized by enemy rifle and machine-gun fire at very close range from positions which were believed to be in friendly hands. Temporary Lieutenant Colonel Bertram Best-Dunkley dashes forward, rallies his men and personally leads them in an assault of these positions, which in spite of heavy losses, are carried. He continues to lead his battalion until all of their objectives are gained. Later in the day when the British positions are threatened he gathers his men and leads them in an attack that beats off the advancing German forces. He is wounded and will die of those wounds in five days. For his actions on this day Lieutenant Colonel Best-Dunkley will be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.

The Peasant Poet of Meath, Lance Corporal Francis Edward Ledwidge (Inniskilling Fusiliers), is killed in action at age 29. He is killed during a violent rainstorm, laying wooden planks over the muddy quagmire of the battlefield to enable guns and equipment to be moved forward. Drenched to the skin he pauses for a mug of tea and a shell from the continuous heavy bombardment explodes nearby killing him instantly. The majority of his work is about Ireland and the fairies. His war poems include A Soliloquy, A Soldier’s Grave, The Irish In Gallipoli, Home, and Ascension Thursday: 1917.

The Irish In Gallipoli

Where Aegean Cliffs with bristling menace front

The treacherous splendor of that isley sea,

Lighted by Troy’s last shadow; where the first

Hero kept watch and the last Mystery

Shook with dark thunder, Hark! The battle brunt!

A nation speaks, old Solences are burst.

‘Tis not for lust of glory, no new throne

This thunder and this lightning of our power

Wakens up frantic echoes, not for these

Our Cross with England’s mingle, to be blown

At Mammon’s threshold. We but war when war

Serves Liberty and Keeps a world at peace.

Who said that such an emprise could be vain?

Were they not one with Christ, who fought and died?

Let Ireland weep: but not for sorrow, weep

That by her sons a land is sanctified,

Let Christ arisen and angels one again

Come back, like exile birds, and watch their sleep

Another poet Private Ellis Humphrey Evans (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) becomes the second Great War poet to be killed in action today when he is killed at age 30. He wrote poetry under the name ‘Hedd Wyn’ Welsh for “Blessed Peace” (literal translation: white peace). Evans spent most of his life on a hill farm, Yr Ysgwrn, near Trawsfynydd, Merionethshire (Gwynedd). By the age of 28, he had won four Eisteddfod chairs for his poetry. Evans will be awarded the Bardic Chair at the 1917 National Eisteddfod, Birkenhead, for his poem “Yr Arwr” (“The Hero”), written in the verse form known as an awdl. The award will be posthumous, with the Eisteddfod Chair draped in black cloth during the award ceremony.

Captain Thomas Riversdale Colyer-Fergusson (Northamptonshire Regiment) is shot and killed by a sniper at age 21. Earlier today the tactical situation having developed contrary to expectation, it is not possible for his company to adhere to the original plan of deployments, and owing to the difficulties of the ground and to enemy wire, Captain Colyer Fergusson finds himself with a Sergeant and five men only. He carries out the attack nevertheless, and succeeds in capturing the enemy trench and disposing of the garrison. His party is then threatened by a heavy counter-attack from the left front, but this attack he successfully resists. During this operation, assisted by his orderly only, he attacks and captures an enemy machine gun and turns it on the assailants, many of whom are killed and a large number driven into the hands of an adjoining British unit. Later, assisted only by his Serjeant, he again attacks and captures a second enemy machine gun, by which time he has been joined by other portions of his company, and he is able to consolidate his position. For his actions he will be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. His brother will die on service in 1940.

Second Lieutenant Denis George Wyldbore Hewitt (Hampshire Regiment) is in command of a company in attack. When his first objective has been captured he reorganizes the company and moves forward towards his objective. While waiting for the barrage to lift, he is hit by a piece of shell, which explodes the signal lights in his haversack and set fire to his equipment and clothes. Having extinguished the flames, in spite of his wound and the severe pain he is suffering, he leads forward the remains of the company under very heavy machine gun fire, and captures and consolidated his objective. The 19 year old is subsequently killed by a sniper while inspecting the consolidation and encouraging his men. For his efforts he will be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. He is the son of the late Honorable George Hewitt.

Corporal James Llewellyn Davies (Welsh Fusiliers) pushes through our own barrage and single-handed attacks a machine gun emplacement, after several men had been killed in attempting to take it. He bayonets one of the machine gun crew and brings in another man, together with the captured gun. Corporal Davies, although wounded, then leads a bombing party to the assault of a defended house, and kills a sniper who is harassing his platoon. This gallant non-commissioned officer dies of wounds received during the attack for which he will be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.

The cargo ship Belgian Prince (Master Henry Hasson) when about 175 miles from Tory Island, Ireland is struck by a torpedo at about 19:50 on the port side between the engine room and the #5 hold. The engines soon are disabled along with the dynamo which keeps the ship from sending a distress signal. The ship takes on a list and the crew abandons her in three lifeboats. During this time U-55 surfaces and begins to shell the ship with the intention of disabling the wireless. Then U-55 moves around to the starboard side and fires her machine gun at the ship. The submarine then approaches the three lifeboats which hold the entire forty-two man crew. They are all ordered to get out of the boats and taken on board the deck of the U-55. The Master, Harry Hassan is taken below while the men on deck are searched. The crew of the U-55 takes the lifebelts from most of the survivors and throws them overboard. The U-55 crew then goes below and close the hatch and the boat gets underway on the surface, sailing about two miles then submerges the U-55 with the forty-one survivors still on the deck of the boat. Without lifejackets the men in the water have little chance of survival and all but three die, but the three who survived were able to tell the tale of what happened to their fellow crewmen after they were picked up by a British patrol boat later in the day. Master Hasson though taken below is never heard from again.

Today’s losses include:

Two Great War Poets

A member of Tolkien’s Tea Club and Barrovian Society

Three posthumous Victoria Cross winners

A Brigadier General’s Brigade Major (the General will die in two days)

The son of a Major General

The son of a Brigadier General

Captain of the 1909 England Rugby team that toured Australian and for whom the Mobbs Trophy is named

Multiple battalion commanders

A son of the 8th Earl of Albermarle

The son of a Baronet

The son-in-law of a Baronet

A member of the New Zealand Parliament

The son of the first native born Prime Minister of New Zealand

The son of a Member of Parliament

An Irish Rugby International

A Scottish Rugby International

A Rosslyn Park Rugby footballer

The Captain of the Dulwich College football team 1914-15

The brother of a multiple Wimbledon Doubles and Olympic Gold medal winner

A well known footballer

An Australian Rules footballer

Multiple sons of members of the clergy

The grandson of a member of the clergy

Multiple sons of Justices of the Peace

An Australian diarist

A journalist

A military Chaplain

A schoolmaster

A man for whom three lakes in British Columbia will be named

The son of a city councilor

Multiple men who will have daughters born after they are killed

Multiple families that will lose two, three and four sons in the Great War

Brothers killed together

Multiple men who will have sons lose their lives in the Second World War

Today’s highlighted casualties include:

Brigadier General Alister Fraser Gordon CMG DSO General Officer Commanding 153rd Infantry Brigade will die of wounds received in action today at age 45. The General and his Brigade Major, Captain Hugh Henry Lean, (Highland Light Infantry), while walking around the trenches, are struck by a shell. Captain Lean is killed instantly at age 29, while the Brigadier General dies two days later. He is the son of Major General K E Lean CB.

Lieutenant Colonel Edgar Roberts Mobbs DSO (commanding 7th Northamptonshire Regiment) an International rugby player at age 37. He captain the 1909 England team that toured Australia. The Mobbs Memorial Match is named for him. He is killed charging an enemy machine gun post. He raised and commanded the 7th

Lieutenant Colonel James Cosmo Russell DSO (Hodsons Horse commanding 6th Cameron Highlanders) is killed at age 38. He is the son of the Reverend Henry Charles Russell Rector of Wollaton.

Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Elton Sunderland (commanding 2nd Devonshire Regiment) is killed at age 42. He is the son of the Reverend James Sunderland Vicar of Eggington.

Major (Acting Lieutenant Colonel) Eric Beresford Greer MC (commanding 2nd Irish Guards) is killed in action while standing outside the advanced battalion headquarters by shrapnel at Boesinghe at age 25. His daughter will be born in December while his brother was killed last February and they are sons of ‘Sir’ John Henry Greer.

Major Thomas Geoffrey Rawstorne (Lancashire Hussars) dies of wounds. He is the son-in-law of ‘Sir’ William Wyndham Portal 2nd

Major Henry Leech (Acting Commander 8th Liverpool Regiment) is killed at age 40.

Lieutenant Colonel Henry Murray Tollemache Hope-Johnstone MC (commanding 12th Royal Fusiliers) is killed in action at age 31. His brother was killed in October 1914.

Captain William Henry Dillon Bell (King Edward’s Horse) is killed. He is a Member of the New Zealand Parliament and son of the Honorable ‘Sir’ Francis Bell GCMG the first native born Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Captain John Swinnerton Dyer (Scots Guards) the 12th Baronet is also killed in action this day. His daughter will be born 28th January 1918.

Captain Hubert Alfred Harris (Royal Army Medical Corps attached Royal Field Artillery) is killed at age 37. His brother died of wounds in April of this year and they are sons of the Reverend Frederic William Harris.

Captain Arthur Lea Harris (North Lancashire Regiment) is killed. He is the son of the Reverend S F Harris.

Captain and Adjutant Ronald Newton Caws MC (Gloucestershire Regiment) is killed in action at age 27. He is the son of Captain Silas Newston Caws JP.

Captain Alfred Squire Taylor (Royal Army Medical Corps attached Highland Light Infantry) is killed in action at age 29. He is the son of the Reverend David Alexander Taylor DD and an Irish Rugby International.

Captain Basil William Head (Hertfordshire Regiment) is killed at age 26. He is the son of the Reverend William Head Rector of Brilley.

Captain Arthur Hensley Hudson (Royal Berkshire Regiment) is killed in action at age 25. He was the son of the Reverend Thomas Hudson and had been an undergraduate at Keble College, Oxford.

Captain Eric George Brock MC (Liverpool Regiment) is killed at age 24. He is the son of the Reverend George Albert Brock Congregational Minister.

Captain Frederic Ernest Bodel MC (Liverpool Regiment) is killed in action. He is a barrister-at-law and the son of the Reverend James Bodel.

Captain David Arthur MC (Indian Medical Service) dies as a prisoner of war in Baghdad at age 32. He is the son of George Arthur JP.

Captain Charles Vernon Martyn Simpson (King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment) is killed in action at age 26. He is the son of Isaac Simpson JP.

Captain Thomas Kenneth Barnsley (Coldstream Guards) is killed at age 25. As a member of Tolkien’s Tea Club and Barrovian Society he was known as the wise cracking ‘Tea Cake’ and he is the son of Brigadier General John Barnsley.

Captain Cameron Roy Carruthers (Cameron Highlanders) is killed at age 28. His brother was killed in April of this year and they are sons of ‘Sir’ William Carruthers.

Lieutenant Clifford Stanton (Welsh Regiment) is killed at age 23. He is the son of C B Stanton CBE JP a Member of Parliament.

Lieutenant Thomas Pillans Ward (Northamptonshire Regiment) is killed at age 20. He is the son of the Reverend Thomas Ward Rector of Alwalton.

Lieutenant Luther James Swallow (North Staffordshire Regiment) is killed at age 33. He is the son of the Reverend Doctor Robert Swallow.

Lieutenant James Young Milne-Henderson (Highland Light Infantry) is killed in action at age 26. He is a Scottish International Rugby Football player, member of the Madras Rugby team and the Junior East of Scotland Swimming Champion. His younger brother will be killed next January and they are sons of J Milne-Henderson JP.

Lieutenant Walter Leverton Jessopp (Machine Gun Corps) is killed at age 20. His older brother was killed in May of this year.

Lieutenant Harold Madoc Jones (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) is killed at age 38. He is the son of the late John Roberts JP.

Lieutenant Henry Paul Mainwaring Jones (Machine Gun Corps) is killed. He was the captain of the football team at Dulwich College 1914-15.

Lieutenant ‘the Honorable’ Albert Edward George Arnold Keppel (Rifle Brigade) is killed in action at age 19. He is the son of the 8th Earl and Countess of Albemarle.

Lieutenant Andrew Buckland Hodge (Leinster Regiment) is killed at age 24. He is the son of the Reverend John Mackey Hodge Vicar of St Luke’s Plymouth.

Lieutenant Thomas Cyril Nicholls-Jones (Welsh Fusiliers) is killed at Pilkem at age 30. He is the grandson of the Reverend Evan Lewis.

Lieutenant Charles Isaacs Coburn (King’s Royal Rifle Corps) is killed at Hollebeke at age 32. He is a Rosslyn Park Rugby footballer.

Lieutenant Neville Ernest Baker (Royal Engineers attached Tank Corps) is killed at age 21. His brother was killed in March 1916.

Lieutenant Sydney Harold Osbrone Wilshire (Australian Field Artillery) is killed at age 27. His brother was killed in May and both are Australian Diarists.

Second Lieutenant Louis James Penard Laycock (Northamptonshire Regiment) is killed at age 25. He is the son of the Reverend James Marshall.

Second Lieutenant Vincent Connel Byrne (Irish Rifles) is killed at age 21. He is the son of George Byrne JP.

Second Lieutenant John Stewart Gellatly (Royal Scots) is killed at age 24. His brother was killed last April.

Second Lieutenant John Ambrose Barratt (Rifle Brigade) is killed at age 36. He was a signalling officer and well liked by his fellow officers; the young officer’s called him ‘Father Barrett’. He is the brother of the Wimbledon Doubles Tennis Champion of 1909, 1912 and 1913 who also won the 1908 Indoor Olympic Doubles Gold Medal Champion.

Second Lieutenant Frederick Charles Westmacott (Royal West Kent Regiment) is killed in action at age 19 over two years after his older brother has been killed. They are the sons of Canon Westmacott.

Second Lieutenant William Sewell Calderwood (Cameronians) is killed in action at age 20. He is the son of the Reverend R S Calderwood.

Second Lieutenant Jack Douglas Wheeler (Suffolk Regiment) is killed in action at age 28. His brother was killed in November 1916.

Second Lieutenant Herbert Edward Boag (Machine Gun Corps attached Tank Corps) is killed at age 25. He is a journalist.

Second Lieutenant Hugh Brown (Royal Irish Rifles) is killed. His brother was killed in January last year.

Second Lieutenant George McMillan (East Lancashire Regiment) is killed at age 31. He is the last of three brothers who are killed in the Great War.

Second Lieutenant (Acting Captain) Francis Joseph O’Brien (Worcestershire Regiment) is killed in action at age 31. His brother was killed last February.

Second Lieutenant Francis Alan Wray (Liverpool Regiment) is killed at age 27. His brother will be killed next September.

Second Lieutenant Scott Gladstone Morton (Manchester Regiment) is killed at age 25. He is the son of the Reverend William Henry Morton.

Second Lieutenant William Folds Cooper (Royal Fusiliers) is killed at age 26. His brother was killed in September 1916.

Second Lieutenant Eric Abley Claxton (King’s Royal Rifle Corps) is killed at age 21. He is the son of the Reverend Arthur E Claxton.

Second Lieutenant Richard Willett (Lancashire Fusiliers) is killed. He is the son of the Reverend Richard Knight Willett Vicar of Norden.

Second Lieutenant Rodney Francis Richardson (Manchester Regiment) is killed at age 18. He is the son of the Reverend Mark Richardson Vicar of St John’s Hudderfield.

Chaplain 4th Class William Duncan Geare MC (attached 165th Infantry Brigade) is killed in action at Passchendaele at age 26. He was the Chaplain of Westminster School and Queen’s College Cambridge.

Sergeant Thomas Henry Worle (Australian Field Artillery) is killed at age 32. He is an Australian Rules Footballer who played in 3 games for Collingwood in 1907.

Corporal Henry Fraser (Gordon Highlanders) is killed. He is the last of four brothers who are killed in the Great War.

Corporal Roderick Angus McKinnon (Otago Regiment) a schoolmaster is killed at age 32. His brother will be killed tomorrow.

Lance Corporal Robert William Stocker (Machine Gun Corps) is killed at age 21. His brother was killed in November 1914.

Lance Corporal Major Phillips (South Wales Borderers) is killed at age 32. His brother was killed last July.

Lance Corporal Alexander W Lawrie (Black Watch) is killed in action at age 20. His two older brothers were killed last year.

Lance Corporal Thomas William James Churchhouse (Manchester Regiment) is killed at age 20. His brother will be killed in the loss of HMS Stephen Furness in December.

Rifleman Arthur Adams (Liverpool Regiment) is killed in action. His brother was killed in July 1916.

Private Riley Whitehead (Lancashire Fusiliers) is killed in action on the first day of the battle at Pilkem Ridge Ypres at age 31. He is a well-known football player.

Private Edward West (West Surrey Regiment) is killed in action at age 20. He is the third and youngest of three brothers who lose their lives in the Great War.

Private Sydney Wilbraham (Liverpool Regiment) is killed in action at age 19. His brother was killed in August 1916.

Private Ruper Edwin Penfold Grimley (London Regiment attached Gordon Highlanders) dies of wounds at age 18. He is the son of the Reverend Arthur Lee Grimley.

Privates Samuel, age 22 and William, age 19 Spilsbury are killed together while serving with the Cheshire Regiment.

Private Albert Edwin Severn (Cheshire Regiment) is killed at age 30. His elder brother was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Private William Hazelby (Grenadier Guards) is killed in action at age 23. His brother was killed last March.

Private Dick Goodger (Lincolnshire Regiment) is killed at age 22. His brother was killed in April of this year.

Private John McIntosh (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) is killed at age 29. His brother will be killed in August of next year, while another brother will be killed in a mine accident at the Auchengeich Pit on 17th September 1959. Their brother in law will be killed one week after the brother that dies next year.

Private James Matheston (Seaforth Highlanders) is killed. His brother will be killed in three weeks.

Sapper Thomas Charlie Poole (Royal Engineers) is killed at age 23. His brother will be killed in October 1918.

Private Albert Harrowell (Hertfordshire Regiment) is killed at Ypres at age 31. His brother will be killed in May 1918.

Private Reginald Walter Ambrose (Hertfordshire Regiment) is killed in action at Ypres at age 23. His brother will be killed in November.

Private Albert E Mills (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) is killed at age 25. His brother was killed in May 1915.

Private John Stone (Sussex Regiment) is killed at St Julian at age 20. His brother was killed in January 1915.

Private Ernest Hampton Turner (Sherwood Foresters) is killed at age 23. His brother was killed last September.

Private George L Eusden (East Lancashire Regiment) is killed leading a bombing party at age 28. His half-brother will be killed next month.

Private Harold Ison (Cambridgeshire Regiment) is killed at age 22. His brother will die of wounds next April.

Private John Duxbury (Machine Gun Corps) is killed in home waters at age 34. He is commemorated on the Hollybrook Memorial and his brother was killed last July.

Private Bruce R Moore (Middlesex Regiment) is killed. His brother was killed in September 1916.

Private Robert A Griffin (Black Watch) is killed in action. His two brothers have already been killed, the first in May 1915, the second in May of this year.

Private David Ross (Black Watch) is killed at age 20. His brother will be killed in July of next year.

Private Jonathan Towns (Black Watch) is killed at age 36. His brother died on service at home in June 1915.

Private Thomas Archer (Liverpool Regiment) is killed at age 25. He brother was killed last month.

Private Frederick Smith (Durham Light Infantry) is killed at age 21. He is the last of three brothers who are killed in the Great War.

Private William McDoanld (Gordon Highlanders) is killed at age 25. He is the middle of three brothers who are killed in the war.

Private Richard Goodman Carder (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) is killed in action becoming the third of three brothers who are killed in the Great War.

Private Thomas William Verrall (Sussex Regiment) is killed at age 26 one month after his older brother was killed serving in the same regiment.

Private Leonard West MM (Sussex Regiment) is killed in ation at age 22. His brother was killed in October 1916.

Private Edward John Herbert (Sussex Regiment) is killed at age 26. His brother will be killed in April next year.

Private Arthur Ewen (Welsh Regiment) is killed in action at age 20. His brother will be killed in March next year.

Private David Reith (Gordon Highlanders) is killed at age 20. Three lakes in Granby Provincial Partk British Columbia will be named for him on 11th November 1997.

Private William Donald Quirie (Scots Guards) is killed at age 22. His brother will be killed next August.

Private George William Dobson (Sussex Regiment) dies of wounds at age 22. His brother will be killed next March.